FOG BLOG POLITICS LOG: CHRISTIA FREELAND TABLES FEDERAL BUDGET, MORE HELP FOR LOW INCOME FAMILIES!
Highlights from the 2023 federal budget Budget is targeting three main areas: health care/dental, affordability and clean economy he 2023 federal budget is proposing spending to make life more affordable, encourage investments in green energy, provide improved health-care services and roll out the next stage of the federal dental care program. It also offers targeted funding for students, workers, science and defence.
Here is a list of some of the more significant funding initiatives in Budget 2023.
$43B in net new spending over six years.
3 main priorities: health care/dental, affordability and clean economy.
Doubling of GST rebate extended for lower income Canadians, up to $467 for a family.
$13B over five years to implement dental care plan for families earning less than $90K.
$20B over six years for tax credits to promote investment in green technologies.
$4B over seven years for an Indigenous housing strategy.
$359 million over five years for programs addressing the opioid crisis.
$158 million over three years for a suicide prevention hotline, launching Nov. 30.
Creation of new agency to combat foreign interference.
Deficit for 2022-23 expected to be $43B, higher than projected in the fall.
Higher than expected deficits projected for next 5 years.
Federal debt hits $1.18 trillion. Debt-to-GDP ratio will rise slightly over next 2 years.
Affordability
The federal government is rolling out a number of small measures to help Canadians that amount to about $3.3 billion in new spending since the fall economic update. The measures are meant to take the sting out of the cost of living as rising interest rates and inflation hammer family budgets.
Chief among them is the so-called "grocery rebate," a one-time hike to the GST rebate which will provide up to $467 for families, $234 for singles and up to $255 for seniors, at a cost of $2.5 billion.
The government is also using the budget to announce that it has negotiated a 27 per cent reduction in the interchange fees Visa and Mastercard charge small businesses. It says this measure will save eligible small businesses in Canada approximately $1 billion over five years.
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The budget also offers about $814 million in 2023-24 to help students starting their academic year on Aug. 1, 2023. The measures include: increasing the student loan limit from $210 to $300 a week; increasing student grants by 40 per cent;
Divorced parents will now be allowed to open up joint RESPs and mature students aged 22 and older will no longer have to undergo credit screening when applying for first-time student grants and loans.
On the housing file, the budget says financial institutions can start offering the Tax-Free First Home Savings Account to Canadians starting on April 1, 2023. The budget also proposes to spend $4 billion over seven years, starting in 2024-25, to implement a co-developed Urban, Rural and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy.
Health, dental and addictions
By far the largest bucket of money in the budget is for health and dental care — $3.6 billion in new spending in 2023-24.
The budget launches the next stage of the dental care plan — which the Liberal government agreed to as a condition of its supply and confidence agreement with the New Democrats. Last year, the government opened the program to low-income Canadians under the age of 12. This year, the program is being expanded to people under 18, persons living with a disability and seniors. It's set to be fully implemented by 2025.
The budget offers an additional $250 million over three years to establish an Oral Health Access Fund starting in 2025-26, with $75 million annual funding after that. The program is meant to target gaps in vulnerable populations.
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